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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Ten Best Cities To Live In Florida – Not

There are many wonderful places that should be considered among the best cities to live in Florida for a Florida relocation of any sort but the real thrust of this article is to identify cities that you may not want to consider or to scratch from your list if you were planning to make a move there and are open to just about anywhere in the state. If you are looking for where to retire or even if you are location independent, Florida has a reputation that involves the sun, the beach, fun, Disney and to a lesser extent other iconic places that are often portrayed in a favorable light. Unfortunately there is another side to Florida that is darker and less desirable in many respects.

What prompted me to write about this was a recent article I read about the 100 worst cities to live in and included cities all over the United States. Out of those I noticed there were several in Florida and thus this article was born in my mind.

Let’s jump right into what makes these cities the opposite of the 10 best cities to live in Florida or retire in Florida. Listed here are the 10 with the lowest crimes per thousand residents to the highest crime rates from these worst cities to live in Florida (taken from the afore mentioned worst 100 in the USA). Look carefully at the crime statistics and there is no doubt in my mind they will effect your thoughts about moving to one of them. They are definitely not the best places to retire in Florida.

City Crime Data

Violent Crime

Property Crime

Total Crime

Crime/ 1000

Crime/ sq mi

Ft Myers, Florida

1037

3749

4786

21.58

110

Miami, Florida

6461

24700

31161

17.82

602

Pompano Beach, Florida

1126

4943

6069

14.38

267

Miami Beach, Florida

1247

9182

10429

14.16

642

North Miami, Florida

750

4504

5254

12.49

490

Hallandale, Florida

399

1681

2080

11.55

435

Tallahassee, Florida

1564

9145

10709

10.39

105

Sarasota, Florida

508

3901

4409

9.67

169

Panama City, Florida

335

2354

2689

9.21

96

Melborne, Florida

591

3235

3826

8.28

101

Much of the data that is contained in this article comes from a post on neighborhodscoot [.] c0m. A paragraph from their website is below about how the crime data was compiled and what the limitations are concerning it. It was not about the top ten places to retire in but from a much larger list of the worst cities in the United States for crime. Read carefully and consider that statistics are an imperfect science and one that with every conclusion, there needs to be a reasonable scepticism since in some cases the conclusions that are drawn contain a element of subjective judgment. In turn, we cannot be responsible for the data or how you use it so put on your thinking cap before you use it to make any decision or for any important task and know that you are responsible for its use.

Here is a peek into how this data came about and if you are looking for the worst or the best cities to live in Florida you need to use more than just the data that purports to sell you on the best state to live in be it from this and other websites for that matter. Notice in the third to the last line it mentions ‘upwards of 87% accuracy’. If you turn that around that means in at least 13% of the time it is inaccurate and statically speaking that is a very significant number and one that could severely affect the direction of any conclusion. You get the idea by now I am sure. How is that for a shirking the responsibility?

Finding the best city to live in Florida or any state, region or county can be a real challenge but hopefully you will find here in this site a resource that can lead you to the best for you no matter what your criteria is. The list above should have given you a peek into what you do not want no matter if you are moving your whole family or are looking for where to retire and what statistics you want to focus on as you make your Florida relocation.

About Me

I'm on a Mission! to find the Cheapest Places to Live with a nice quality of life. I found Panama to be one such place - you can learn more in my Free 'Letters from Panama' at LearnAboutPanama.com. Please join in the discussion here on the blog by leaving your comments and your own stories about places where people are happy living frugally!